[Harp-L] Review of Harmonica Masterclass in Chicago

[Mike Holcomb <mholcomb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Went to the Harmonica Masterclass in Chicago this weekend.  This review is
excerpts from a longer blog that I wrote.  To see the whole blog go here:

http://www.onlinejam.org/blog/?q=node/view/225

For the most part, I just edited out the personal stuff.

Friday:

Since this was my first time at HMC, I decided to start with the more
basic courses. I figure in a year or two I'll take some of the more
advanced technique classes, and most of these had the basic classes as
prerequisites anyway. I took blues music theory level 1 and 2, which were
very good, but mostly review for me. Dave Barrett taught these himself,
and I must give him credit: He is an excellent teacher. Very good at
making the principles clear and showing the application.

After the theory classes I took a class on playing 2nd position, taught by
David Light. This class was a lot more application than theory, and the
instructor spent most of the time focusing on individual questions about
2nd position playing from the class.

After supper, they set up a couple of jam environments. They had a full
electric band in the small auditorium, and a jam circle with an incredibly
kind and patient guitarist in one of the conference rooms.

Mark Hummell and Dave Barrett opened up the electric jam. Awesome playing
by Mark Hummell, and I was also impressed with Dave Barrett's playing. The
guy really rocks. 

The host band consisted of John Garcia on guitar, Kenny Smith (the son of
Willie "Big Eyes") on drums, and Nick Moss on bass. I was very impressed
with the musicianship of all of these guys, and even more impressed over
the next two days.

Saturday:

The improvisation and soloing class seems to be the focal point of the
whole weekend. I think almost all of the students were in this one. Dave
Barrett taught it, and the whole live band was there to play examples and
illustrate ideas. I have to give credit to Dave Barrett, this could be
done with recorded examples, but it is a thousand times more effective to
do it with a live band. The class primarily covered chorus forms and focus
notes.

I could see right away how to apply this stuff to my soloing and
composition.

After classes, another electric jam and guitar circle. I didn't see the
whole opening of the electric jam, but I caught the end of it. Sonny Jr.
and Joe Filisko played a country-style old-timey thing together that just
made everyone's jaw drop. For me personally, I like the old time styles of
playing harmonica better than the Chicago blues harp sound. This was
simply stunning. I've never before met Joe Filisko or heard any of his
playing, but this song put him way up the list of my favorite players.
After the duet, Sonny Jr did Sonny Terry's Whooping Blues (or Hooting
Blues or whatever, you know the type of thing). He nailed it. Then he took
it double time and nailed it. Then he took it triple time and nailed it
again. Everyone was floored.

Sunday:

I took the Form and Groove class. This class was co-taught by John Garcia
and Mark Hummel, again with the Nick Moss/Kenny Smith rhythm section. They
went over all the different grooves (shuffles, slow blues, rock beats,
boogies, boogie-woogies, rhumbas, and so on) and explained what the
differences were and how to call them out to a band. Kenny Smith and Nick
Moss were really great about de-mystifying what the rhythm section is
doing to support those kind of numbers. The form class covered all the
variations of 12 bar blues, 8 bar, 16 bar, and about two dozen other
variations, bridges, turnarounds, intros. Again, the band was there to
give a live demonstration of the differences, so if someone in the class
didn't hear the difference between a shuffle and a cut shuffle they could
play them back to back. Mark Hummel demonstrated different approaches to
take playing harp to the different grooves and chord progressions.

So, to sum it all up: If you are thinking about going to one of these
Harmonica Masterclasses, do it. You will have a good time, you will learn
a ton, you will see some incredible playing. And you almost certainly
won't suffer from too much sleep.

--
Best regards,
Mike Holcomb